Faults in the life breed errors in the brain, The mind and conduct mutually imprint None sends his arrow to the mark in view, With caution taste the sweet Circean cup; Swallow the two grand nostrum's they dispense→ That Scripture lies, and blasphemy is sense. Be damnable, then damn'd without excuse. Some dream that they can silence, when they will, The storm of passion, and say, 'Peace, be still:' But, "Thus far and no farther," when address'd To the wild wave, or wilder human breast, Implies authority that never can, That never ought to be the lot of man. But, muse, forbear; long flights forebode a fall; Strike on the deep-toned chord the sum of all. Hear the just law-the judgment of the skies! He that hates truth shall be the dupe of lies; And he that will be cheated to the last, Delusions strong as hell shall bind him fast. But if the wanderer his mistake discern, Judge his own ways, and sigh for a return, Bewilder'd once, must he bewail his loss For ever and for ever? No-the Cross! There and there only (though the deist rave, And atheist, if Earth bear so base a slave); There and there only is the power to save. There no delusive hope invites despair; No mockery meets you, no deception there. The spells and charms, that blinded you before, All vanish there, and fascinate no more. I am no preacher, let this hint sufficeThe Cross once seen is death to every vice; Else he that hung there suffer'd all his pain, Bled, groan'd, and agoniz'l, and died in vain. TRUTH. Pensantur rutinâ. HOR. LIB. II. EP. 1. MAN, on the dubious waves of error toss'd, choose the wrong Oh how unlike the complex works of man Heaven's easy, artless, unencumber'd plan! No meretricious graces to beguile, No clustering ornaments to clog the pile; From ostentation, as from weakness, free, Inscribed above the portal, from afar Stand the soul-quickening words-BELIEVE AND LIVE. [most, Too many, shock'd at what should charm them Despise the plain direction, and are lost. Heaven on such terms! (they cry with proud Incredible, impossible, and vain!- [disdain) Rebel, because 'tis easy to obey; And scorn, for its own sake, the gracious way. Who judged the Pharisee? What odious cause His virtues were his pride; and that one vice The self-applauding bird, the peacock, see- Not so the pheasant on his charms presumes, Though he, too, has a glory in his plumes. He, Christianlike, retreats with modest mien To the close copse, or far sequester'd green, And shines without desiring to be seen. The plea of works, as arrogant and vain, Heaven turns from with abhorrence and disdain Not more affronted by avow'd neglect, Than by the mere dissembler's feign'd respect. What is all righteousness that men devise? What-but a sordid bargain for the skies? But Christ as soon would abdicate his own, As stoop from heaven to sell the proud a throne. His dwelling a recess in some rude rock; Book, beads, and maple dish, his meagre stock; In shirt of hair and weeds of canvas dress'd, Girt with a bell-rope that the pope has bless'd; Adust with stripes told out for every crime, And sore tormented long before his time; |